By Nevaeh Enyeart
She went from practicing 10 to 12 hours a week to performing on a packed cruise ship auditorium with only standing room.
This was the reality for junior Lily Dennis during summer break of 2024.
Dennis went on a cruise with her Cole Academy dance team during the summer before her sophomore year as their travel opportunity.
Dennis went through Carnival and went to Grand Cayman and Nassau Bahamas.
The ship wasn’t allowed to announce Dennis’s dance team because it wasn’t directly a part of the cruise line. Dennis’s team had to attract the audience themselves. They ran around in their costumes and floaties and their teachers in shark inflatables in a parade like form to get people’s attention.
Many people on the cruise were cheering and ready to watch the performance.
Dennis wasn’t nervous for the performance but was concerned about what they had to use as a backstage: a crammed room. She performed five numbers in half an hour and had to change costumes quickly.
“We had practiced a lot at the studio and were prepared,” Dennis said. “I was nervous for the backstage aspect, as we were in a very cramped room with no lights.”
This once-in-a-lifetime experience as one Dennis will never forget. Being able to see everyone so interested and engaged has been a core memory for her.
“ I had such a fun time all week and getting to perform and be part of the entertainment on the ship was amazing,” she said.
While sophomore Silas Ranfeld usually spends spring break in Bowling Green, Ky., his spring break trip this year turned into a solo trip to Austria. The trip started with a flight from Detroit, Mich., to Frankfurt, Germany, and then a connecting flight to Vienna, Austria, with a train to Salzburg, Austria.
Ranfeld will be visiting his cousin Arya, who is studying abroad in Salzburg. Even with the nerves of traveling alone Ranfeld is ready to make new memories and explore a new place.
“We went to a Michelin star restaurant, art museums, and cafes and a few hikes, too,” Ranfeld said.
Ranfeld isn’t the only sophomore traveling alone. Sophomore Maelle Hewitt went on a solo trip to Alaska last summer.
Being there for a little over a week Maelle went sightseeing and spent time with her best friend, Daelynne, who lives there. Daelynne’s parents and Maelle’s parents were college friends, leaving the Hewitts comfortable to send Maelle there alone.
“The most memorable part was just being able to see my best friend who lives there and just being able to hang out with the beautiful scenery,” Maelle said.
During spring break of 2024 the Hewitts took a family vacation to Spain for a week and a half to surprise Maelle’s brother Luke, who was a foreign exchange student there.
They went to Madrid, Sevilla, and Chiclana in Spain and Tangier, Morocco.
Hewitt was able to go across the Strait of Gibraltar to Morocco and explore the city of Tangier.
“We wanted Luke to be able to have a special 16th birthday and didn’t want him to be alone so we decided to surprise him,” Maelle said.
With Luke’s birthday being on a leap day (Feb. 29) they were able to celebrate him on his actual birthday that year.
